The Coronacation Diaries, Episode 28

Searching for Jesus in America

It's Easter.

Most churches today live-streamed their services in order to follow social-distancing guidelines, or hosted drive-in services, so that congregants could attend, but stay in their cars. And yet, some churches defied orders, choosing to believe that their interpretation of their God's word was more truthful than the science of the CDC.

I was raised in fundamentalist Christianity. But in my current household, we have never really celebrated Easter. It's always been Nick's holiday with the kids and they usually visit his dad; but in 2020 (The Year of the Coronavirus) they are Skyping instead of visiting. Here at home with just me and Michael, Easter is just another Sunday: a day to sleep in, work out, have a beer, and hang out together. A time to celebrate each other. We make jokes about Zombie Jesus decreeing that white bunnies should poop chocolate eggs. Sometimes we watch videos of peeps burning at the stake, as is their due and their lot in life.

As a rule, I'm much more likely to quote Jim Casy over Jesus Christ. Jim Casy connected all of mankind with his entire philosophy summed up in just a few words:

“maybe it's all men an’ all women we love; maybe that's the Holy Sperit—the human sperit—the whole shebang. Maybe all men got one big soul ever’body’s a part of."

That love story of one big soul is one that I can get behind.

But today, I found out that Tim Minchin's 2012 tour of Jesus Christ Superstar was streaming for free. My favorite all-time musical starring my favorite all-time artist? Yes, please. It was streaming for just 48 hours this weekend, and I was going to watch it tonight...until I realized that the 48 hours began on Friday at 7 p.m. BST, not EST. In hindsight, it was pretty Americentric of me to somehow think that a British production starring an Australian performer would be streaming according to EST hours.

So, in the middle of the day, I settled in to watch JCS. The production was incredible. And although I give mad props to John Legend and the NBC production from 2018 for giving it a go, their production was no match to the 2012 production. Minchin's Judas was extraordinary. The staging captured the insanity and hypocrisy of all of those who would revel in all of Jesus' fame, whilst tearing down everything he actually preached. I have long defended this musical to conservative Christians who believe it is sacrilege to present Jesus as "just a man," as anything less than a perfect God, even though the Bible clearly shows him with doubts, desires, and failures. Jesus Christ Superstar shows us not so much the heart of Jesus, but rather the hearts of everyone who latched onto his tailcoats for the ride, but ignored his very message.

Spending the afternoon immersed in thinking about a religion I long ago left offered a lot of time for reflection. 

If the Jesus of Christianity were not resurrected, would our world be a bit different? Would Jesus the mortal man have better, more moral followers than Jesus the immortal God? 

Because I don't see a lot of Jesus, the man, in our current versions of Christianity. In his teachings to his disciples as recorded in Chapter 25 of the Book of Matthew, Jesus told of the Judgment of the Nations and of his expectations for his followers: 

31 “When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on the throne of his glory. 32 All the nations will be gathered before him, and he will separate people one from another as a shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, 33 and he will put the sheep at his right hand and the goats at the left. 34 Then the king will say to those at his right hand, ‘Come, you that are blessed by my Father, inherit the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of the world; 35 for I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger and you welcomed me, 36 I was naked and you gave me clothing, I was sick and you took care of me, I was in prison and you visited me.’ 37 Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when was it that we saw you hungry and gave you food, or thirsty and gave you something to drink? 38 And when was it that we saw you a stranger and welcomed you, or naked and gave you clothing? 39 And when was it that we saw you sick or in prison and visited you?’ 40 And the king will answer them, ‘Truly I tell you, just as you did it to one of the least of these who are members of my family, you did it to me.’  

In our modern version of Christianity today, where is Jesus? Where is his image in the vitriol spewed by our President, whom evangelicals have overwhelmingly supported, when he claims that he is watching a live-stream Baptist Easter service, while he tweets out garbage about fake news, winning, making great oil deals, and "the lamestream media?" How do we reconcile these words and our country's actions with feeding the hungry, clothing the naked, caring for the ill, and loving the criminal? Jesus didn't embrace the oil companies; he embraced prostitutes, the unclean, the unwell, the unfed. In times of need, Jesus would not have offered thoughts and prayers. He would have offered actions. He would not have valued the economy above the human lives.  He would not have deemed a corporation to be a person.

Instead, his followers claim to be here for his message, but they are seemingly only really here for the party. They want to be part of the cool club. They want to be saved. They want their Jesus to be a white fuzzy bunny, pooping chocolate prosperity eggs, instead of recognizing that his message was damning and uncomfortable. In fact, he would have railed against the mega-churches and their circus-like stage-show. He would have destroyed their temples.

With so many needy in our country, would Jesus have asked for thoughts and prayers? Or would he have demanded action? 

Jesus would have demanded that we listen to the truth, and not to our invented interpretations, cherry-picked to make us comfortable. He would have demanded that we get up off our knees and actually do something to make this world a better place, not just for those in our demographic and socioeconomic status, but even more for those beyond the walls of our safe, gated communities.

Jesus Christ Superstar is not about Jesus. It's about us: a pretty solid reflection of our own society and of our own belief systems and hypocrisies. It reminds us that we've got a long way to go, if we are ever going to emulate Jesus the mortal man, or Jesus the resurrected. It reveals the hearts of those who latch onto Jesus' fame and then give glory to themselves. And it shows us that we are doing a pretty lousy job of taking care of our one big soul. 

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash